Meet the Mentors Behind These Successful High School Dropouts

Many successful entrepreneurs and celebrities did not follow the “traditional” path of education. Some dropped out of high school and returned to finish their education at a later date and some did not graduate at all. This list of high school dropouts who achieved success may surprise you! 

However, their stories share one common factor: behind every successful high school dropout is a caring mentor who influenced their path to success. That’s why Diploma Access Academy places so much importance on mentoring our at-risk students through our team of tutors, counselors, and academic coaches.

As these success stories illustrate, graduating from a brick-and-mortar school while following a “traditional” timeline isn’t for everyone. What matters is having one person–or a team of people–who recognizes, supports, and nurtures each student’s potential.

Richard Branson

Most everyone has heard of Richard Branson, the billionaire business magnate and founder of the Virgin Group. But did you know that Branson has a learning disorder? His struggle with dyslexia caused him to drop out of high school at the age of sixteen. “I was seen as the dumbest person at school. The idea that I could be successful didn’t dawn on me.” Branson understands firsthand the importance of mentorship. While struggling to launch Virgin Atlantic, Branson reached out to British entrepreneur, Sir Freddie Laker, for guidance. “It’s always good to have a helping hand at the start,” Branson says. “I wouldn’t have got anywhere in the airline industry without the mentorship of Sir Freddie Laker. Going it alone is an admirable, but foolhardy and highly flawed approach to taking on the world.”

Geoffrey Manley

World-renowned neurosurgeon Geoffrey Manley dropped out of high school during his sophomore year for a reason that has become all too familiar: he needed to enter the workforce to support his family. “No one in my family had gone to college, I don’t think there was an expectation for me to go to college,” Manley said. “My mom was a single mom and there was a lot of financial burden on our family. I felt a need to go out there and make some money.” Because he enjoyed working with his hands, Manley took a job as an auto mechanic. 

One day, a customer who would change the course of Manley’s life brought his car to the Texaco station where Manley worked. Sheldon Steiner, a University of Kentucky biology professor, struck up a conversation with Manley about science. Steiner recounts his initial impressions of  Manley. “He was a really bright kid, the questions he asked were very smart.” Steiner eventually asked Manley if he had thought about doing something else with his life. Thanks to Steiner’s influence, Manley got his GED and then enrolled at a local community college. Steiner also gave him a job in his lab. Today, Manley is an expert in the field of traumatic brain injuries and credits his success to his friend and mentor. “We meet certain people in our lives who really are transformative. Steiner was that person who was there at the right place and time.”

Katy Perry

Pop superstar Katy Perry dropped out of high school at the age of fifteen to pursue a music career. But her path to stardom was a rocky one. Her debut album of contemporary Christian music was a flop. Eventually, Perry signed a record deal with Columbia Records and recorded an album, but Columbia failed to release it. Angelica Cob-Baehler, a VP at Columbia, immediately recognized Perry’s potential for super-stardom and grew frustrated with the other Columbia execs for failing to release Perry’s album. 

When Cob-Baehler left Columbia, she stole Perry’s files and shared them with Jason Flom, the chairman and CEO of Capitol Records, who released what would become Perry’s first smash success, One of the Boys. Perry credits her friend and mentor with helping to launch her music career. “She practically willed me into existence as a young artist when she ‘stole my files’ from limbo at Columbia Records and brought them to life at Capitol Records. She was like a big sister to me, showing me the ropes and always having my back,” Perry says.

Abraham Lincoln

Many are surprised when they learn that Abraham Lincoln had to halt his grade school studies when he was a mere nine years old. When his mother died, he needed to work on his family’s farm and Lincoln–who was big for his age–was adept at physical labor. An avid reader, Lincoln was self-educated, reading through the books that his family owned. At age 24, Lincoln met a man who would influence his studies: William Mentor Graham, a teacher living in New Salem, Illinois. In a May 29, 1865 letter, Graham wrote that Lincoln, then 24, lived with him for six months during which time he taught Lincoln “the rules of surveying.” Graham fondly recalled his role as mentor, stating “I think I may say that he was my scholar and I was his teacher. No one ever surpassed (Lincoln) in rapidly, quickly, and well acquiring the rudiments and rules of English grammar.”

Dave Thomas

The founder of Wendy’s owes his success partly to another high school dropout in the fast-food industry: Colonel Harland Sanders. At age fifteen, Thomas dropped out of high school to work at a restaurant called the Hobby House. It was there that he met Colonel Sanders. After serving in the Korean war as a cook, Sanders offered Thomas a job working at several of his struggling KFC franchises. Sanders told Thomas that if he could improve their sales and operations, he’d receive a 45% ownership in the profits of the location.

His stint as an army cook served Thomas well. One of the first changes he implemented was to pair down the menu that was much too elaborate and complicated. Under Thomas’ direction, the franchises quickly turned around and Thomas celebrated his new ownership in the company by selling his stake back to Sanders. Thomas used the profit to open the first Wendy’s restaurant where he took what he had learned from his work at KFC and applied it to Wendy’s. When Harland Sanders died in 1980, Dave Thomas ordered that all flags at Wendy’s franchises be flown at half-staff.